Car manufacturers still seem to ignore the fact that smartphones have become an integral part of our lives. There are, of course, exceptions, but they are very rare. Not all cars have a well-thought-out place for a smartphone, not to mention the fact that for a long time it was possible to find a place in the cabin for passenger devices, where they can be conveniently placed and charged. Therefore, the issue of placing a gadget in your car most often remains with the owner of the car, and not the interior designer. The Moshi brand in its arsenal has prepared a series of SnapTo accessories that will help in this matter with the iPhone, both in the car, and at home or in the office. In this review, we will take a closer look at a couple of them.

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How SnapTo accessories work

Moshi SnapTo smartphone mounts in cars and at home work with magnets. The gadget is either inserted into a branded case with places for installing such, or you can stick a special mount on it. On the other hand, there are car and home holders that will “grab” them without additional clamps. Thus, all that needs to be done to secure the smartphone is to lean it against the holder, which will immediately “grab” it.

Cases with mounts are available for iPhone 7 and 7 Plus models. But if the user sticks the mentioned universal mount to other smartphones, everything should work according to the same principle, although the manufacturer does not emphasize this. For testing, an old handy iPhone 8 Plus turned out to be a test subject.

iGlaze Slim Hardshell Case

Let’s start with the cover. In our case, this is the case of the iGlaze series, already familiar to buyers of Moshi accessories. The test sample arrived in Pearl White, but there is also Taupe Pink with golden piping, and Black with bronze piping. This model is available for iPhone 7/8 in both X and Xs sizes. In the box there will be only the case itself and that’s it, the screen protector was not put as a gift.

Of course, a couple of extra millimeters to the body without this not the smallest iPhone 8 Plus will be added along with the case. The size of the smartphone is 158.4 x 78.1 x 7.5 mm and it weighs 202 grams. With a cover, the dimensions will increase to 163 × 82 × 11 mm. The case description page does not list the weight, but online stores say it is 40 grams. So owners of large smartphone models should get ready for the fact that their gadgets will increase significantly. True, and you can get used to it very quickly.

But it should protect well in case of falls. Naturally, if it falls on the glass, the cover will not save, but all kinds of side and blows on the “back” will obviously be softer. In addition, the camera protrusion will be hidden, which in some cases will help. The case itself was tested according to military standards MIL-STD-810G, which should once again inspire a sense of calm to the user. But it is worth noting that even with my rather high level of care, scratches on the gloss appeared on the very first evening of use.

Yes, the cover is glossy. Due to the color of the backside, damage is almost invisible on the coating, but if you look closely and twist it at different angles, there will be much more traces of use than we would like. The silver piping on the sides is not particularly affected, but it is unlikely that it will look like this for a long time, especially after several months of active use (although I would like to be wrong). There is also a gray ledge that forms a rim above the screen. It will help protect the glass from contact with the surface in cases where the user puts the smartphone on the table with the screen down.

Inside the case without a soft lining. It sits very tightly and it is unlikely that a lot of dust will get inside. There are also two cutouts for installing magnets. Mounting kits come with these and have adhesive applied to hold them in place well. At the same time, it is worth noting that the keys will be pressed without a distinct “click”, although there were no failures or vice versa, accidental presses. Also, the mute switch comes out “hidden” and it will be more difficult to get to it, as well as inadvertently hurt it.

It is quite convenient to use such a cover. It takes a little getting used to its dimensions, but given the fact that magnets are installed inside it, it is also not as big as it could be. The gloss is slightly slippery, but unlike a glass smartphone, it is still much more grippy. But I would not advise blindly ordering this one, someone may not like such a coating and the sensations of different types of plastic. Well, it is worth remembering that it is better to keep the case away from, for example, credit cards so that they are not damaged. But with it you can still use induction stations.

SnapTo Universal Car Mount

The editors were visited by two options for SnapTo car mounts – regular and with induction charging. The principle of operation is exactly the same for them, only the second one comes with an additional cable for power supply. The rest of the contents of the boxes look almost the same in both cases: the mount itself with a “grip” for installation in the ventilation slot, a bracket with a sticky base and a “suction cup”, a pair of magnets for the case, as well as a magnetic platform for a smartphone with a special “ruler” for centering when installation.

Both mounts are plastic, and the surface that the smartphone comes in contact with is made of soft-touch material. The inductively charged SnapTo also has four small ventilation slots and a pair of operation indicator lights. At the same time, both models also have a strong “knee”, with which you can set the desired position of the smartphone.

If the installation option to the deflector is impossible or inconvenient, you can use the bracket. You can fix it on glass or any convenient panel, as long as it allows you to grab the “suction cup”. The smartphone mount leg itself can move 180° vertically, but major position adjustments are still made using the knee on the smartphone mount.

The color of the “tripod” is exclusively black, and the shells of the smartphone mounts are black or gray, depending on the model (black for the version with charging). In a bright interior, such an accessory will be a black spot when the smartphone is not in place. But this is hardly such a fundamental point, especially if the owner will always use the mount. In a dark interior, of course, everything will look great.

There is also an option with a glued platform without a “suction cup” . It looks a little more elegant, but less versatile, since it cannot be re-glued. But if you immediately guess with the position, then visually it will be a more acceptable option. True, in any case, only a smartphone will be visible from the driver’s seat, so you just need to select the appropriate option depending on the requirements for the device.

Home Mount SnapTo Wall Mount

The SnapTo series has an option for installing a magnetic mount at home or in the office. Wall Mount – this is the same mount as above, only intended for installation indoors, and on double-sided tape. The kit includes the platform itself and a pair of magnets for installation in a case. Also, the manufacturer immediately installed stickers for installation.

This method of attachment can be useful in places where there is not always room for a smartphone. For example, somewhere in the kitchen, where food is often prepared. Thus, the smartphone will not be on the table, it will not interfere, drops, crumbs and other trifles will not fly on it, and at the same time it will be possible to watch a video, leave some recipe open, a chat window, and so on. The same thing can happen where the user is exercising, near the bed or on some of its decorative elements, in the garage near the tools, at the workplace in the office open space … In general, such fasteners can be placed where it is convenient for the user, if only it was a flat surface.

The platform is attached with a pair of strips of 3M double-sided tape. It’s worth considering the place in advance, because you won’t be able to re-glue the device many times. Yes, and it is worth considering the moment at which, after dismantling, there will be no damage to the surface. And what is convenient is the ability to rotate the platform by 90 °, which will allow you to use the smartphone in both vertical and horizontal orientations.

There is also an induction charging option, which looks very similar and also has a static mount. This, of course, will look more logical in the workplace or near the bed. But you will have to put up with the wire if there is no way to “hide” it. At our disposal, for review, we came across a regular Wall Mount sample, without such functionality. It is slightly thinner (86×65×9 mm) and is attached to the surface, while the second version is placed on a small platform, which is glued in the same way.

SnapTo accessories in action

I don’t have a lot of experience with these kind of car accessories. After spending a couple of weeks with the SnapTo Universal Car Mount, the conclusions were clear enough. To begin with, both the Car Mount and Wall Mount have a pretty good grip on the case and generally do their job well. But it was not without nuances and a couple of troubles.

“Fitting” Car Mount with a tripod paired with the iPhone 8 Plus showed that in my case it is better to install the device in the deflector. So the smartphone did not block part of the review and relatively harmoniously fit into the interior, without interfering with the main display in the cabin. A pleasant “side effect” of such an installation is that in the summer the smartphone and the mount with induction charging will be additionally cooled. In winter, it is worth covering the flow of warm air so as not to heat gadgets.

Regardless of the installation, be it a tripod or a deflector, for the option with induction charging, you need to connect the power cable, which, accordingly, must be connected to a USB port or a separate charger (I remind you that only a standard length cable is included in the kit). In order not to burden the interior with a cord, you can try to install it in the trim, but in most cases you will need third-party help and additional costs for this (plus the purchase of a charger if you do not already have one and the car does not have powerful USB ports).

If the car has support for CarPlay and Android Auto, induction charging will only make sense if there is a possibility of wireless connection to the car’s GU. Otherwise, obviously, the smartphone will be charged directly from the connection and there will be no point in paying extra for an additional function.

The iPhone 8 Plus held up well in the case of the usual Car Mount, and from the second option it fell off a couple of times when the car hit bumps (once, however, it was on Mark Vovchka Street in Kyiv; everyone who has ever passed there, won’t be surprised). It felt like all the mounts held the smartphone relatively the same, but the universal sticker “grabbed” a little harder than the case. Perhaps with other covers, the effect can change minimally. Well, given the weight, large iPhone models (7/8 Plus, Xs/11 Pro Max, 11) or other smartphones with a similar weight (about 200 grams) can periodically fall, which in itself is not very pleasant for a smartphone, not for interior trim. Theoretically, smaller iPhones will be more secure in place.

In turn, the cover looks quite good. The problem is that it is glossy and instantly covered with small and medium scratches even with careful use. As I said, literally in the first few hours, “marks” appeared on it. True, in order to consider them, you need to purposefully look for them, and if you don’t look closely, then everything looks in order, because these injuries are not particularly striking.

But for Wall Mount, I never found a place in my house where I would like to fix the smartphone in this way. But, again, this is very individual and each user will have their own rather unique experience depending on the installation location.

Conclusion

Different manufacturers have magnetic mounts for smartphones, and finding such a solution is not so difficult. An option from Moshi in the form of a line of SnapTo accessories will provide different options for such devices for home and car. I really enjoyed using this in my car. If not for a couple of cases when the platform “lost” a smartphone, it would be difficult to find fault. But the impressions would be completely different if these falls left traces on the decorative elements of the cabin.

So for fans of off-road driving, such devices will not be the best solution. But in urban areas and on routes with relatively flat roads, SnapTo will be a convenient and easy-to-use option for fixing a smartphone in place, especially for smaller devices.